A more serious selection for Kiev.

Putting aside all personal opinions on Sarri et al, it would not be a bad thing to put Dynamo away and move one game closer to winning EUFA, which is a ticket to Champions League.

Usually Sarri plays his 2nd 11, which I truly believe is not a smart idea. Far better to play the bulk of the 1st 11, with a couple of changes. Trouble is, Sarris stubbornness has meant our 1st 11 is pretty much that, 11 players. His lack of game time for others means very few positions are covered by a second player.
Emerson has become a great swap for Alonso and vice versa but that's about it.
Like for like has often made not a jot of difference so it has been nice to see Sarri upgrade his thinking from the rigid ,turgid play to the more mobile and energetic game since City, Wolves aside.

So here goes.
Kepa
Dave
Luiz
Christensen
Alonso
Kante
RLC
Jorghino
Hazard
Giroud
CHO
My team would have Ampadu instead of Jorghino and Pedro instead of Hazard., with Kante in his proper position.

 

I think it's clear some tiredness is creeping in with such an intense period of fixtures that we've had of late.

Being 3-0 up I think we can certainly afford to rotate some players ahead of a very tricky game at Everton on Sunday.

Keep some big guns on the bench in case it starts to go south but Kiev don't have enough that should worry us and we really only need 1 goal to bury this tie completely.

I wouldn't be starting Hazard. Would certainly be happy for CHO and RLC to get games.

The interesting thing with this game is that we can adapt our personnel and style because we are 3-0 up so we can just play on the counter. To that extent I'd probably play Willian and CHO on the wings and play a more defensive minded player in the Jorginho role. Perhaps Ampadu or god forbid...Kante! .

 

Wow i actually totally disagree. I want a full 2nd team out and leave all the first teamers at home to rest.

Ideally we would leave rlc back home to start on saturday but thats a total pipedream so i hope the team looks like this.

Cabs
Zappa cahill christensen alonso
Barkley ampadu rlc
Cho giroud willian

Bench of reserves.

We are 3 0 up, i know the above team screams complacency but if we cant go through with a 3 0 win then we dont deserve it. If we even score 1 goal they will need 5. We need to rest our team because they look knackered and we need them for everton.

I want to win the europa but i also want top 4 as this denies one of our rivals for the CL

 

totally get where you are coming from but I think Europa is our priority now given it's our last chance at a trophy and gives us a C.L place.

Given the Real and PSG capitulations in 2nd legs, I'd be wary of a complete second string going out there.

 

I see where you are coming from but kiev are a Europa strength team whereas Ajax are cl quality. Secondly that rm team are a bunch of lazy egos and all aging. Psg played united and only had a 2 0 lead. We have 3 goals plus an advantage of being an away game which would give us 2 more goals.

All the second string boys are all relatively young and hungry.

We did similar when we went to molde?

 

Either way should see us through, your second string team has plenty of players as good as our 1st team, but would lack some coherence.
I'm leaning towards the EUFA as our ticket to the PL as we are by no means sure of top 4 if we keep selecting and playing like we did against Wolves.

 

So there we have it.
Drop Jorghino, play RLC , play CHO and use Christensen ( and Ampadu) regularly. Leave out Higuain until he is properly fit, and don't let Barkley anywhere near the Team.
Result, more speed, more power, more attack, more energy, better link play, everyone involved, not just left to Hazard.
They don't all need to play every game, but one at least every game using proper rotation is the correct way forward if we want to win things.
Does Sarri have enough smarts, or will he continue his pantomime management?

 

What a nice surprise that was.Nice confidence booster.

 

Mate I am confused. All season you have been complaining that Sarri does not play reserves enough in Europa

 

Don't be confused. I stick with my original complaint, and many times I said I thought Sarri was being stupid NOT to play the fringe players more, as it was impossible to judge who his best 11 is when 5 or 6 excellent players were getting no game time. That was true then, but as I also more recently explained, or thought I did, that now it's too late to experiment. We either need top 4 ,which is looking dodgy or EUFA win, which is no pushover. What I now believe is that RLC has proved he is a must start player, CHO a starter every couple of games, ditto Christensen, because all 3 have shown anyone with eyes that when they play together or singly, the team is better.
In the few remaining games I think Sarri should play his favourite first 11, except drop Jorghino to the bench and ALWAYS play RLC before Barkley, play CHO as often as Willian or Pedro, Christensen as a regular starter while resting Rudi or Luiz as necessary.The midfield of Kovacic, RLC and Kante is our best by some distance. Likewise Giroud is better than the underwhelming, unfit, overweight sluggish Higuain.
That's basically settling on a 1st 11 with 3 or 4 players as rotations, not non starting subs, who are as good as or better than those Sarri has used. The man wasted 3 months of the season not playing the right team, and will probably do so again next game.

 

Ok understood. Personally I think being 3-0 up in a Europa League tie is a great time to give RLC and CHO starts. CHO had a great battle with that young left back Mykolenko
And we won 5-0, so it worked a treat. Have you changed your mind about Kovacic as regista: hard to judge as he hasn't played there that much yet.

 

Pleased that you accept I am not diving all over the place.
Kovacic has been made our Jorghino replacement regista, and in truth has made a pretty good fist of it. With Kovacic, Kante and RLC the midfield looked a whole lot sharper and imposing than any midfield I've seen with Jorghino in it. That might be due to RLC and no Barkley, but nevertheless they bossed the game. Kovacic offers our team reliability, effort and stability.
What he doesn't offer under this so called Sarri Ball, is goals or assists. I would love to see him play alongside Kante with RLC as the front of a triangle, but that's not going to happen. Equally I'd like to see the same with Jorghino beside Kante.
But as a key player who runs the show, definitely not.
He just doesn't have the game to be an attacking mid, rarely getting behind defenders. He's a makeshift regista at best, and looks a bit of a misfit in Sarris fantasy system.
CHO had to work all game ,and didn't have it easy against Mykolenko, who was bloody good for his team. That's exactly why CHO needs to play. He must have learned shedloads when things were tough, yet he scored again and assisted. Equally, did you see some of the amazing(to me) Luiz like passes Christensen played? More to that boy that I thought.
How do you see the next game ? Just hope we don't see RLC and CHO and Christensen all disappear and the usual suspects reappear.

 

I guess we won't risk RLC in back-to-back games just yet. Which is sensible

He looked great last night (against a terrible team) so it looks like we are making progress with his injury

 

As one with a dodgy back, though just a tad older than RLC, I sympathise. It's a rotten thing to deal with, though today they can definately identify those conditions they can't fix and those they can. My guess is that RLCs' is curable. Chances are his body is out of whack, too strong up top, not strong enough in his core, or vice versa. Or his hamstrings are too tight. This happens in youngsters who train incorrectly when their weakness is not apparent.
Whatever. If a rest is needed then do it.
Time though for Ampadu to get a start.
Please, please, no more of the team we started against Wolves. Jorghino is a backwards step, he just can't cut the mustard. Kovacic Kante and RLC is the answer, and also, Higuain, NO NO NO. I also think we play better as a team without Hazard, but let's not go there !!!!!

 

Totally agree we play better as a team without Hazard. Our best team performances have been with Pedders and Willian wide when Haza is rested, rather than just give the ball to him

 

cracking draw for us. Avoiding Arsenal, Napoli, Villareal and Valencia until the final.

Semi against Benfica looks most likely. We should beat Prague over 2 legs with room to spare.

 

Benfica better than Villareal and Valencia

 

Not happy with the draw then?

 

Would have liked Frankfurt, they just took 15k to Milan

 

Good draw for us. Hope we do it and dont get complacent